1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic cymbal instrument that enables normal playing as well as cup playing to be performed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic cymbal sounds are generated by striking the instrument with a drumstick and converting the resulting vibrations produced in the instrument body to electrical signals and outputting the sounds through a speaker or headphone, as disclosed in a Japanese Practical Utility Model H4-3358, for example.
The performance capabilities demanded of such electronic cymbal instruments include: (1) response characteristics should be uniform regardless of the strike point; (2) vibrations generated by the strike should diminish smoothly without exhibiting the so-called "violent decay" phenomenon; (3) the impact sound generated by the drumstick should be low. For such reasons, cymbals are mostly made of a plastic plates of about 5 mm thickness molded into a flat plate or, as in non-electronic cymbal instruments, into a convex front surface. Also, to lower the impact sound, a padding made of such materials as rubber is attached to the striking region of the instrument, and, sensors such as piezo-electric elements are attached to the back surface of the cymbal to convert the mechanical vibrations to electrical signals.
To enable performing rim shot playing (normal playing) and cup playing as do non-electronic cymbal instruments, the electronic cymbals are provided with a rim section and a pad section such that normal playing sounds are produced by striking the rim section while cup sounds are produced by rapping the pad section.
FIG. 3 shows such a conventional electronic cymbal having a rubber plate 2 bonded to the central section of the instrument body 1 and a pad sensor 3, on the back surface of the instrument body 1, for converting the vibrations in the instrument body 1 to electrical signals, and a rim switch 4 to enable switching between the normal mode of playing and cup mode of playing. Also, in the case of an electronic cymbal because switching between the normal and cup modes of playing are carried out by the turning on/off the rim switch 4, it is not always necessary to match the sizes of the pad area and the rim area to those of non-electronic cymbals; also, the instrument sound range is not limited by the dimensions of the playing area.
As explained above, conventional cymbals are provided with a rim section and a pad section so as to provide the instrument with the ability to play normal and cup modes of playing. In designing the location of the strike sections, if the outer peripheral region of the instrument body is to be the pad section and the central section is to be the rim section, a cymbal player, who is accustomed to playing non-electronic cymbal instruments but is unfamiliar with electronic cymbal, experiences some difficulty in drumstick handling, because such an arrangement of the strike sections is opposite to that in non-electronic cymbal instruments.
To counter such difficulties, an arrangement may be considered so that the strike section of the instrument body on the outer peripheral section (rim section) is used for normal playing and the central section (pad section) is for cup playing. However, in either of the strike section arrangements discussed above, the strike sections are located adjacent to each other at the same level, resulting in it being quite easy to hit both sections of the instrument at the same time, because, when the player is trying to hit the central section of the instrument with the tip of the drumstick, the midpoint of the drumstick can accidentally come into contact with the edge section of the instrument. Therefore, the conventional electronic cymbal instruments presented a problem of instrument playability.